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Third-generation iPad owners: does the fourth-gen iPad irk you? We asked that question of Ars readers on Wednesday this week, just after Apple's second fall media event which introduced the device (as well as plenty of other products). We wondered what our readers thought of Apple's shake-up of the product cycle—the fourth-generation iPad was released only seven months after the third-generation, leaving many (but not all) third-gen iPad owners scratching their heads over whether they had made the right choice.

For plenty of geek types—which Ars readers unequivocally are—the answer to the question seemed obvious enough. After all, the third-generation iPad works just as well today as it did last week, and who wants to slow down the progress of technology? But as expected, our readership offered some well-reasoned responses on both sides of this discussion. One person's personal use case doesn't necessarily apply to everyone else, and we may not all agree on each answer. Still, it's clear that people have put some thought into this question and into how Apple's actions this week might affect their future buying purchases.

No irkage here

We'll start with those who had little-to-no problem with Apple's introduction of the fourth-generation iPad. Many of the 300+ responses we received from the first article admitted some initial irritation after hearing the announcement but said they "got over it" soon after realizing how much they still value their current devices.

One such example was from Michael Bushnell: "I was irked for about two seconds, but then I got over it. All I use my iPad 3 for is reading books, reading Ars, email, etc. Very lightweight use. I can understand why those who use their iPads more heavily would feel slighted, but for me it makes little difference in my every day use. I'm just glad I have the retina display."

Another user, swholliday, felt the same way. "I'll admit to some annoyance on seeing the announcement since I bought a third gen earlier this year. On the other hand, I consider iPads multi-year devices, and beyond screen resolution and storage I'm not concerned about specs, so it's not a big deal. When I boil it down, the Lightning connector is the only thing that really bothers me, and that's more because it would be nice to not have to worry about separate cables (an iPhone 5 is my only other Apple mobile device.)"

Others made it clear that they'd rather have Apple make technological progress than hold onto products to make users feel better.

"Who cares?! I think it's a good move by Apple given that Microsoft's new Surface beats the iPad 3rd gen in some benchmarks whereas the new A6X 4th Gen iPad blows it out of the water. That fact that Apple stays ahead of the performance curve is a good thing," a user named Squuiid wrote.

"I've been using mine happily for months in the knowledge that Apple were going to release a new version eventually," DavidNielsen added. "I am not irked by the fact that technology moves ahead but I did not expect them to refresh the iPad this quickly."

In fact, some wished Apple would treat its other products the same way. "I'm actually happier if Apple would release updated products on a more regular basis. In my mind, Apple's slow release schedule often makes their products poor value as they get on in age (i.e. Mac Pro right now or the iMac as of last week)," ronm88 wrote. "I'm in the market for a new desktop (Mac Pro or iMac), and I've been patiently waiting for an update. I would be happier if they would update their computers every six months or so, and then I wouldn't feel like I need to wait for the latest and greatest."

Then there were those who said they weren't planning to upgrade anytime soon anyway, and the fourth-gen iPad doesn't tempt them enough to make it worthwhile.

"Doesn't bother me, because I had always aimed to keep my 3rd-gen iPad for at least 2 generations. That had previously equated to 2 years, but if I have to stretch it out to 3 generations (or more), so be it," wrote rolphus.

Another reader named aphoid agreed. "I'm not really irked even though I bought a The New iPad in August. It still works great. I have a launch-day iPhone 4S, so I can still share cables, unlike if I upgraded. The processor speed is good enough, I haven't noticed slowness. The 4th gen doesn't fix my biggest complaint about mine: it's just too heavy to hold for long periods of reading. Now, if they'd managed a significant weight drop in addition to the processor upgrade, I might be annoyed or at least tempted to upgrade."

But wally626 pointed out that third-gen iPad owners outside of the US might have more reason to be frustrated than others due to the device's LTE limitations—had they known a more compatible version was coming out half a year later, they might have waited. "Not irked, I think I would be if I bought a LTE model in a country that is not supported by 3rd Gen. but is supported by 4th Gen," wally626 wrote. "The screen is the same, the new connector may eventually be good, but for now it is a minus. Faster is nicer, but I do not do anything that pushes the current iPad Gen. 3."

Ultimately, Zoolook summarized the general feeling shared by many existing technophiles by pointing out that this is the natural progression for all techy gadgets, and those who can't handle owning quickly outdated toys should get out of the game.

"If you're a technophile, you expect to get stung like this often. If you buy cutting edge GPUs or CPUs or motherboards for gaming PCs (which I did for the best part of a decade) you're always fighting a losing battle. In the days of the 'dumb' phone, new models were released with careless abandon; that's still the case in Android-land. Same is true with some consumer devices (just got the latest plasma TV for $4000... oh look, here's a better one for half the price)," Zoolook wrote. "Do people whine? Nope."

Unhappy buyers

But while those responses might resonate with a certain demographic of users, plenty of other Ars readers were happy to explain why they weren't thrilled with how things played out between the third- and fourth-generation iPad introductions. The most common argument rested on Apple's assertive obsolescence policy when it comes to future iOS releases, which, in turn, affects how third-party developers treat older devices. Many iPad owners are also iPhone owners, and they know what it's like to own a fairly recent device that doesn't support all the latest OS features.

"It's inevitable that it was going to happen, and I don't think the iPad 3 is in danger of becoming obsolete and unsupported anytime soon," Tridus wrote. "Now if they drop support for it within another year? THAT will be infuriating."

Fulgan agreed. "What really bothers me is that Apple has a very well-known device obsolescence policy: Current and previous generation devices get all the goodies, the generation before that gets less (and typically upgrading the OS on such a device makes it slow as glaciers) and after that, it's 'no more of anything for you' time."

"Yeah, I was 'disappointed.'" eg0nomic added. "I felt that what I just bought aged very quickly, much more quickly than I had hoped. It's not so much about the gen 4 being better than mine, it's that the overall life is shorter."

As did iforget: "To be honest, I'm more annoyed that the iPad 1 I bought was obsolete only a year and a half after it left the shop shelves (despite having essentially the same hardware as the iPod Touch 4, which is still on sale and still supported). If iOS 7 rolls out next year and drops support for the iPad 3, then I'll be even more pissed, though I really don't see that happening. "

Another reader, sakanagai, went a step further to explain this line of thinking. "The more troubling aspect comes from the support cycle. Two generations back is about as far as iOS updates reach, and even then the functionality is limited," sakanagai wrote. "These updates are designed to take advantage of the latest hardware release, so naturally some features are left out in older models. But the original iPad is already out of the support loop. The iPhone 4 and 4th gen iPod Touch have a limited version of the latest version. Depending on the scale of hardware refreshes, this rapid turnaround could shrink the supported life span considerably. And if the next hardware isn't a significant upgrade, why launch/buy it?"

At least one reader, tvalleau, highlighted how the short update cycle impacts independent or hobbyist developers—an update to the iPad line so soon after the last means developers once again don't own the latest device for testing. "As a single-person developer, I must have the latest and greatest to test my software. $800 in April for an iPad; $400 last month for the iPod 5; now $800 more?" tvalleau asked. "Irked? YES."

Indeed, although I generally fall in the first category (those who don't see it as such a big deal), I can sympathize with concerns about future software compatibility. In addition to the hundreds of responses we received from the original article, I also received numerous personal e-mails and IMs that echoed the same sentiment: people are concerned that Apple might drop support for their third-generation iPads six months earlier than it might have otherwise.

But of course, there were still a few third-gen iPad owners who were annoyed at the update for other reasons, however frivolous they may be. Ars reader nathanziarek, for example, clearly likes to resell his old devices for a good price. "I've always disliked that Apple products disintegrate after new models are released. It seems like they should retain some value," nathanziarek wrote.

And then there's the ol' 30-pin versus Lightning connector problem, which was mentioned by users on both sides of the argument. "The only thing that irks me is that I have an iPhone 5 with a lighting connector and an iPad3 with the old 30 pin connector, so now I have to keep two different cords around," pancakesandbeyond said. The comment, acknowledging its own weight in relation to other people's concerns, ended with the tag "#firstworldproblems."

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Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

125 Reader Comments

Everyone wants to buy the brand-new device, then progrerss should stop until the user is ready to buy new device. And at that moment they should come up with a new and better device, which the user then proceeds to buy. Rinse and repeat.

I just don't get why this upsets people. If you have the iPad 3, just "pretend" that the iPad 4 wasn't released. Close your eyes, pretend it never happened, and wait for the iPad 5 next year. Your iPad 3 will continue to work just fine. Being upset about it amounts to little more than being upset that YOU don't have the latest and greatest and someone else does. Boo frickin' hoo.

Isn't this good for Apple users though? It means that Apple isn't resting on their laurals and is actually trying to stay ahead of the market. Wasn't everyone concerned that after Jobs passing, that Apple would just stop?

Although I don't own an Apple product, I think it is good for competition (Microsoft Surface, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Amazon Kindle, {insert random Android tablet here}) that the current market leader is keeping everyone on their toes. Hopefully Apple continues to accelerate and improve upon their product line up, and everyone else does the same.

This "upgrade" feels more like the iPad 3S than the iPad 4 as the only difference in this cycle is the move to the A6X. So, maybe I'm nuts, but I actually thinks this means we should not expect to see the real iPad 4 until Q4 2013. My gut feeling is that Apple hasn't quite settled on the new features that will appear in the real iPad 4 and/or they haven't committed/developed the A7 yet. Probably both.

In some ways, Apple are in a no-win situation. They've often been accused of not having the latest cutting-edge hardware, and relying too heavily on their ecosystem and tight integration of hardware and software to drive sales. Not such a bad thing, if you like Apple. In this case, the A6 is arguably one of the best bits of silicon out there, MHz for MHz, and they wanted their flagship products to be the fastest they could make it.

It never really made sense that their phone was actually more powerful than the iPad 3rd gen, so all in all I still think it was a good move.

1) The new lightning connector not being on the iPad would have stalled sales since folks would "know it was coming". You don't want stalled sales going into the holidays.

2) The old iPad cadence was Q1 which is right after the holiday shopping season and which once again stalls sales. It was not going to take long for iPad owners to figure this out and delay holiday iPad purchases. Best to break that cadence now.

3) With iPhone moving to fall cadence, the iPad can move to a summer cadence (May/June) before Apple's back-to-school frenzy and K-12 purchasing and university purchasing. A summer cadence should give Apple two big quarters on an iPad refresh (back-to-school followed by holiday quarter).

4) Anybody notice that Microsoft and Google are releasing brand new tablets (Surface and rumored Nexus 10)? Why not release at the same time and undermine their launches.

5) Apple gets a brand new iPad lineup just before the holiday season to help drum up new sales.

I have an iPad 3 -- I previously owned an iPad 2, sold it and bought the iPad 3. Before that I owned the iPad 1 and sold that to buy the iPad 2. I am going to hold on to my iPad 3 because it has the same lightning connector as my iPhone 4S which should be good for two years. Next year I will switch to "lightning connector" across the board and upgrade to both iPad 5 and iPhone 5S.

This iPad upgrade was more about letting customers buy products that all had the same connector or at least giving them the option. You can buy iPhone 4/4S + iPad 2 _or_ you can buy iPad mini/iPad + iPhone 5. And if you are really savvy, you can pickup the iPad 3 on the refurbished bin at Apple.com and you get a retina display on the cheap with iPad2-like performance.

This is a win all-around. If you feel your iPad 3 is now worthless because of this please send it to me and I will gladly put it to use for my wife or kids. I wouldn't want you to have to tote around that worthless gadget just because a new one is out with a faster processor.

I can see it irking someone. I'd be a little annoyed but I'd get over it. It happens all the time, not just with Apple. GPUs, CPUs, Hard disk capacities. It's a fact of life.

On the software support cycle I do fall squarely in the 'totally annoyed' crowd. For the original iPad to fall off the cycle so soon after it's introduction (what only 2.5 years?) I was really disappointed that iOS 6 didn't arrive for it. Sure it wouldn't have been the full on new feature set, but at least give it the same update the iPod Touch 4th gen. got.

This "upgrade" feels more like the iPad 3S than the iPad 4 as the only difference in this cycle is the move to the A6X. So, maybe I'm nuts, but I actually thinks this means we should not expect to see the real iPad 4 until Q4 2013. My gut feeling is that Apple hasn't quite settled on the new features that will appear in the real iPad 4 and/or they haven't committed/developed the A7 yet. Probably both.

Expect a full-blown iPad refresh in May/June of 2013 -- before the back-to-school events and K-12 purchasing occur. The iPad 4 is a stop-gap to avoid some problems that would occur due to lightning connector not matching up and the inherent problem of a Q1 (post-holiday) refresh of iPad causing purchasing delays.

It's irking me that Ars Technica is now writing stories comprising nothing but reader comments (no real news). Carry on this way, and Ars will become an echo chamber! You could have accomplished a similar effect simply by "promoting" all these comments onto the end of the previous article.Will you please give me a button to suppress stories like this one?

I didn't watch the launch presentation, but what does "Fastest upgrade rate in history" (in the article photo) refer to? That doesn't sound like something to brag about.

Software updating, specifically updating to the latest version of the OS. I think the slide before that one was something like "60% of iOS devices are now running iOS 6".

Bingo - and it is definitely something to brag about, especially when you look at the wide distribution curve of Android devices. 2.2 is still the most common I think, which is mind-blowing. Mind you, WindowsXP only recently got supplanted by Windows7 didn't it?

The only concern here might be future software compatibility, and this quick release cycle is certainly a pain in the ass for devs. On the other hand, as Jobs famously said, it still works as it did when you bought it. As it stands right now, the iPad 3 is a brilliant gadget. BTW does this mean they're taking the iPad 3 off the market and selling only the 2nd and 4th gen?

It's irking me that Ars is now writing stories comprising nothing but reader comments (no real news).Carry on this way, and Ars will be an echo chamber!Will you please give me a new button to suppress stories like this one?

You already have a button to suppress stories like this one, on your mouse.

I just want to say kudos to a well managed and well thought out means of talking about this issue. Jacqui you did a fantastic job of asking for and then presenting people's thoughts. For what many thought was a simple little question you laid bare all the angles and made me think a lot about this. Thank you very much!

I'm giving this a meh. This was the first time the iPad was slower than the iPhone, this fixed the balance as well as switched to Lightning. I suspect it's a one-time thing and upgrades will come at the usual time after this (so the 5 still may be in half a year, but the 6 1 year after that).

People complained before that Apple always got out-gunned in specs since they waited for so long before upgrading, now people complain about too-fast upgrades. People complain, it's a non-story.

As for that developer, I don't think iOS development is so vastly different from Android that I'm talking out my bum here, but you don't NEED the latest hardware, you just need the minimum baseline to make sure it performs ok on that, if he gets the four it would just be to add four-specific features that the 3 can't run. He can write apps that run on the 4 without the 4, if they run on his existing 3.

Wow, I read Nathanziarek's comment as being a hyperbolic, sardonic parody of a complaint of someone who takes the view that their iPad 3 is somehow worth less to the user in day to day use today than it was last week. I wasn't even considering resale value, in which case it is. It was the "disintegrates" that had me thinking it was tongue-in-cheek.

I'm an iPad 3 owner and I have no problem with the 4. It's not a radical upgrade and my 3 functions the same way today as it did last week. Having an iPhone and an iPad with different charging cables is a bit of an inconvenience but it's one I can live with.

I didn't watch the launch presentation, but what does "Fastest upgrade rate in history" (in the article photo) refer to? That doesn't sound like something to brag about.

Software updating, specifically updating to the latest version of the OS. I think the slide before that one was something like "60% of iOS devices are now running iOS 6".

I wouldn't go about equating updates with upgrades if I were in Apple's shoes. Berlin looks like a barren wasteland in the new Maps app compared to the old one. Some upgrade.

It never ceases to amaze me how any shortfall in any Apple-product immediately becomes a catastrophic failure. No matter how many good enchancement the new version has, everyone just focuses on the one thing that fell short. And suddenly that one thing is a total showstopper or something.

I didn't watch the launch presentation, but what does "Fastest upgrade rate in history" (in the article photo) refer to? That doesn't sound like something to brag about.

Software updating, specifically updating to the latest version of the OS. I think the slide before that one was something like "60% of iOS devices are now running iOS 6".

I wouldn't go about equating updates with upgrades if I were in Apple's shoes. Berlin looks like a barren wasteland in the new Maps app compared to the old one. Some upgrade.

It never ceases to amaze me how any shortfall in any Apple-product immediately becomes a catastrophic failure. No matter how many good enchancement the new version has, everyone just focuses on the one thing that fell short. And suddenly that one thing is a total showstopper or something.

Who said anything about catastrophic failure besides yourself? I was simply pointing out that the last update was clearly a downgrade rather than an upgrade in terms of the maps so equating those two words (upgrade and update) and concepts is false. Apple basically admitted this when they informed users how to avoid their maps app.

The 3rd gen iPad was probably supposed to feature the A6 from the get-go. But being Apple's first self-developed CPU, they couldn't finalize it in time. They couldn't just delay the Retina iPad though, because the displays were being manufactured and the stock market expected it. So they went the conservative route and just doubled the GPU cores in the A5, so it could cope with the higher resolution. It was an interim solution. As such I can understand a slight bitterness for 3rd gen users.

Now that the A6 is ready, they just shoved it in. That's why the rest of the iPad hasn't changed at all.It also helps to free up the A5 production lines for the Mini.

I bought my iPad 3 in the spring and I do not care that they already came out with an update. I was a little surprised they did, since Apple seems to try and release annual updates to their products (and yes, I know there have been exceptions, but it still didn't seem to fit their typical product update cycle).

Of course, the only reason I bought mine was that my old Macbook's screen shattered, and I didn't feel the need for a new laptop or to replace the screen (it was over 3 years old at that point and from what I could find, a new screen would not have been much cheaper than the iPad).

You have several of them:There's a scroll wheel on your mouse, for one.There's also Command-L or something similar that allows you to go anywhere on the entire internet.

I'm being completely serious. If you don't like the story, don't read it. We wouldn't do these if they didn't get very strong engagement. Don't forget that only 4% of our audience reads and participates in the comments, and we think this is a good way to highlight the best of our commenting community.

I didn't watch the launch presentation, but what does "Fastest upgrade rate in history" (in the article photo) refer to? That doesn't sound like something to brag about.

Software updating, specifically updating to the latest version of the OS. I think the slide before that one was something like "60% of iOS devices are now running iOS 6".

I wouldn't go about equating updates with upgrades if I were in Apple's shoes. Berlin looks like a barren wasteland in the new Maps app compared to the old one. Some upgrade.

It never ceases to amaze me how any shortfall in any Apple-product immediately becomes a catastrophic failure. No matter how many good enchancement the new version has, everyone just focuses on the one thing that fell short. And suddenly that one thing is a total showstopper or something.

Of course, the same thing happens to every non-Apple product.

The difference is that for the last few years, the overall trend was that Apple could do no wrong and that any problems were glossed over. Yes, they were great products, but people treated them as the most perfect device ever. Now, some of the shine has worn off, and I think you're seeing a bit of a backlash - swinging the pendulum back well past center...

Are there faults, problems, and shortfalls? Yes. Are they necessarily any worse than other products? No. But when you haven't had a negative review of a main-stream Apple product in a long time, it's probably natural that things are coming across as more negative than they might be otherwise. (Oh look how the mighty have fallen and all that...)

I didn't watch the launch presentation, but what does "Fastest upgrade rate in history" (in the article photo) refer to? That doesn't sound like something to brag about.

Software updating, specifically updating to the latest version of the OS. I think the slide before that one was something like "60% of iOS devices are now running iOS 6".

I wouldn't go about equating updates with upgrades if I were in Apple's shoes. Berlin looks like a barren wasteland in the new Maps app compared to the old one. Some upgrade.

It never ceases to amaze me how any shortfall in any Apple-product immediately becomes a catastrophic failure. No matter how many good enchancement the new version has, everyone just focuses on the one thing that fell short. And suddenly that one thing is a total showstopper or something.

Of course, the same thing happens to every non-Apple product.

The difference is that for the last few years, the overall trend was that Apple could do no wrong and that any problems were glossed over. Yes, they were great products, but people treated them as the most perfect device ever. Now, some of the shine has worn off, and I think you're seeing a bit of a backlash - swinging the pendulum back well past center...

Are there faults, problems, and shortfalls? Yes. Are they necessarily any worse than other products? No. But when you haven't had a negative review of a main-stream Apple product in a long time, it's probably natural that things are coming across as more negative than they might be otherwise. (Oh look how the mighty have fallen and all that...)

I wasn't saying any of that stuff you guys are talking about. I was just saying the new map update is worse than the old one.

People should have figured with the move to the lightning connector that an iPad upgrade was coming.

At least Apple will probably still support the old new iPad (^^) for a couple more years so people still have a great device.

The question is with the february (new Apple product) slot open, what are they preparing for the prime slot?This iPad (if their performance assessment is correct) is getting pretty close to be a good cloud client terminal. I personally think this is probably Apple end game, iPads as cloud terminals with wifi (appleTV) monitors and bluetooth input devices replacing conventional PC for average (most) people.

The problem that most nay sayers quote is a hypothetical one and it is as follows: Apple's "Cycle of Obsolescence" lasts 2 iOS cycles with hardware getting only two versions of full features and another 2 of crippled software updates.

Guess what.... ? the iPad 2 has seen 3 iOS cycles, and because I do not see the iPad Mini to get a crippled version of the software by iOS 7 it also means that the iPad 2, which is really a larger iPad Mini, will also get iOS 7 uncrippled so 4 iOS cycles and 4 years of full featured life...

Extrapolating from that, the now old "new iPad" which is significantly better than the iPad 2 should out last the iPad 2/Mini by at least 1 version of iOS putting its life span to 4 iOS cycles/years as well...

Ironically the iPad that might fall short of this is the new "new iPad". Because it started its life well within iOS 6 and because it is not that much different than the old "new iPad" so it might be getting crippled software by iOS 9 and so get only around 3 years full featured life span....

Is your head aching just yet? mine is, so I will enjoy my iPad 1 and my iPad Mini (once it gets here) and stop worrying how often Apple releases stuff

You already have a button to suppress stories like this one, on your mouse.

...I mean, suppress ALL stories like this one, en-masse. One button. Click once, forevermore see no more articles comprising nothing bar Ars Technica reader comments from a recent article...

The point. I think you missed it. (especially when the article title is in the "can you get any more obvious" category?) Filed this under "reader xyz doesn't want to read articles about rst but apparently has OCD issues with clicking the links for them anyway."

Not that there isn't something to be said for promoting comments, but I think it misses the point in terms of analyzing a sense of overall feel and major trends of comments for those who don't want to try reading every single one themselves.

I'm not bothered. But I am amused

[edit: annnd apparently Caesar posted pretty much the same thing while I was typing >.> ]

Janne wrote:

It never ceases to amaze me how any shortfall in any Apple-product immediately becomes a catastrophic failure. No matter how many good enchancement the new version has, everyone just focuses on the one thing that fell short. And suddenly that one thing is a total showstopper or something.

Phones are very personal and very often bought with focused uses in mind. This is still true even with smartphones. Whenever you break something related to a particular person's focused uses (versus the more nebulous general uses they also use a smartphone for--people are often much softer on the OS/phone itself when a third party app stops working due to an upgrade) they are always going to come back with a response that essentially translates to "you broke my phone."

Because Apple tends to promote their devices and products with the very walled garden sense and the feel that you should be able to just turn it on and use it, I think you will always see a bit more kickback against Apple when particular features experience major change which stops some users from enjoying previous levels of functionality, versus what you might expect on another OS. There is very much a sense (one I feel Apple tends to promote) that an Apple phone inherently (without third party apps) accomplishes certain core functions (and does so very well) out of the box, and some people are very much used to using them in that vein. I'm not at all trying to say this is bad either on Apple's part or the users who fall into this category of expectations and use patterns, but simply that it can be a double edged sword.

I think there's a reason why Apple didn't call the third-gen iPad "iPad 3" nor the 4th "iPad 4". Granted, they *did* call the second-gen "iPad 2", but all the following ones are just called "The New iPad", and I'm sure that will go for the fifth-gen iPad. And no nonsense with the "S" either.

Why is that important? It signals what apple's strategy is for the 'Pad. Probably not a whole lot of gigantic breakthroughs from version to version. Incremental hardware upgrades and very minor, if not indistinguishable, design changes.

I just don't get why this upsets people. If you have the iPad 3, just "pretend" that the iPad 4 wasn't released. Close your eyes, pretend it never happened, and wait for the iPad 5 next year. Your iPad 3 will continue to work just fine. Being upset about it amounts to little more than being upset that YOU don't have the latest and greatest and someone else does. Boo frickin' hoo.

I don't even need to pretend. Other than the updated CPU and port (which were clearly going to be used on a new product) I don't see it as the iPad 4, it's a new line with a smaller screen. I don't need a s,all screen, I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad 3.

Honestly confused about the fuss and until Ars pointed it out and made a deal of it hadn't even crossed my mind.